1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a forming panel including a parts receiver for holding separate, discrete parts which may be used in connection with the forming panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Forming panels used in erecting concrete walls for structures are often provided in standard sizes and shapes, and thus must be connected in order to establish a pair of opposed forming walls into which concrete may be poured for hardening into the final structural shape. Thus, adjacent forming panels are coupled together by pins, wedges and other fasteners, and opposing walls are connected by tie bars and the like. The purpose of such forms is that they may be removed and reused after the concrete is hardened. However, keeping track of the large number of pins, wedges, nuts and other connectors has been a problem. One other problem associated with such small parts is that they are often not readily available to the workman who must assemble the forms. Thus, parts may be lost or displaced, located in a remote area on the jobsite, or otherwise separated from the forming panel. Certain parts are relatively specialized and thus somewhat expensive to replace, and are repeatedly used with the same forming panel. Moreover, several workman must often wait while the parts are obtained by another workman, resulting in the loss of productive time of not merely one but several workers. Thus, the expensive of replacement parts and the time lost in locating and retrieving such small parts is an economic loss as well as an aggravation to the construction crew.
While the forming panels include a plurality of coupling sites which are normally adapted to receive some or all of the parts for use in, for example, attaching the forming panel to a complementally configured forming member, it is unsatisfactory to carry the separate parts in these locations during transit and storage. Typically, these xe2x80x9cin usexe2x80x9d positions are exposed, and placing the parts in these coupling sites subjects the parts, and more importantly the forms themselves which are often of a softer material, to substantial use and wear as the parts are impacted. Moreover, holding the parts in such xe2x80x9cin usexe2x80x9d positions interferes with handling and positioning the forms for coupling as well as storage. In addition, such xe2x80x9cin usexe2x80x9d positions in the coupling sites subjects the parts themselves to impact and loosening at the site, whereby parts may be readily separated and lost.
One attempt to ameliorate this problem has been to attach small parts by wires to the forming panel. This helps to keep certain parts constant associated with a single form. However, the wire connecting the parts to the form may become entangled with other equipment resulting in a potential safety hazard. In addition, when two or more such small parts are used at a single location, the positioning of the wires may be cumbersome. Also, not all parts will be coupled to a form, or certain special applications may require different small parts to couple the forms together.
There has thus developed a need for improved methods of coupling small parts to concrete forming panels, and in particular aluminum forming panels of a lightweight type of construction.
These problems have largely been solved by the method and apparatus for retaining separable coupling parts for a concrete forming panel in accordance with the present invention. That is to say, the method and apparatus hereof solves the problem of holding separate and discrete parts on a forming panel at a location spaced from their eventual position for use. By having a parts receiver as a part of the form itself, the parts are releasably held but remain available for use. Moreover, by having the parts receiver spaced from the coupling sites, the parts may be held by the parts receiver during handling and alignment of adjacent forms, so that the parts do not interfere with such alignment but may be quickly transferred to the coupling sites when desired.
Broadly speaking, the forming panel of the present invention includes a face sheet for receiving concrete thereagainst, a frame for supporting the face sheet, and a parts receiver for temporarily holding one or a plurality of separate and discrete parts. By xe2x80x9cseparatexe2x80x9d, it is meant that the parts are not held by a wire or other permanent attachment to the forming panel, but rather are completely separable therefrom so that parts may be readily transferred between different forming panels as desired for specific applications. The parts receiver may be provided with openings therein whereby the parts may be frictionally engaged by the parts receiver. In addition, one or more of the openings may be provided with a gripper of an elasotmeric material which increases the frictional engagement between the parts receiver and the part. Because the parts may be configured differently, different shapes of openings may be provided for holding parts of different shapes. For example, some openings may be substantially rectangular or elongated, suitable for holding complementally shaped parts such as wedges, while other openings may be substantially circular for holding, for example, round-shank pins therein. The parts receiver may be provided with a magnetic coupler which is especially beneficial for holding parts of iron or steel when the forming panel frame and face are primarily constructed of aluminum. Thus, the provision of a magnetic coupler helps to hold selected parts, without causing any substantial interference between one form and another. Further, the parts receiver may be provided with a self-sticking material such as grip and loop fabric material, one of the grip and loop fabric being provided on the part while the other of the grip and loop fabric material is provided on the forming panel. Parts may thereby be quickly attached and removed for use. The parts receiver may also be configured and positioned in such a way as to provide stiffening and reinforcement to the frame and or face sheet of the forming panel.
The method of the present invention includes providing a concrete forming panel and at least one part adapted for use therewith, the part being discrete and separate from the forming panel. The forming panel so provided includes a plurality of coupling sites adapted for coupling said panel to a complementally configured forming member which may be positioned adjacent thereto, the forming panel including a parts receiver positioned on said forming panel remote from said coupling sites. The parts are then releasably attached to parts receiver and may thereafter be subsequently moved into the coupling sites during coupling of the forming panel to the adjacent forming member. As a result, no separate box or container need be maintained for the parts during transport and storage, but the parts carried by the parts receivers of different forming panels may be readily interchanged or moved as needed.
These and other advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art with reference to the drawings and description which follow.